Christmas Party Games for Large Groups

On this page

1. Games everyone plays at once
2. Team games for tables
3. Games with volunteers on stage
4. Gift games for a big crowd
5. How to run games for a big crowd
6. How many copies to print
7. Questions hosts ask

Find the guest is the best opener for a big crowd. Everyone gets a card with 25 squares like “has built a gingerbread house” or “owns an ornament older than they are,” then mingles to find someone who matches each one and gets them to sign it. Nobody has to perform, strangers end up talking, and it runs itself while you finish setting up.

The rule for every game below: if more than a third of the room is waiting for a turn, the game is too slow for the crowd. Big groups need games where everyone has something in their hands or something to shout.

Games everyone plays at once

1. Christmas find the guest (free printable)

The card above. Hand one out with a pen at the door. Each person can sign only one square on your card, which forces people to meet at least five others. First to five in a row wins, but let it run 15 to 20 minutes so latecomers can join in. Print one per guest plus 10 spares.

2. Christmas bingo (free printable)

Bingo scales better than almost any other game: 20 players or 120, the caller does the same work. The Game Maker prints up to 100 different cards at a time, each one a random mix from 46 holiday words, plus a calling sheet. Put the calls on a TV or projector with Play mode so the back of the room can keep up.

In a room this size you’ll get ties. Decide before the first call what happens: both winners pick a prize, or a quick tiebreaker question settles it. Our Christmas bingo page has more calling tips and winning patterns.

3. Heads or tails

Everyone stands. Each person puts both hands on their head (heads) or on their hips (tails). The host flips a coin and calls it; everyone who guessed wrong sits down. Repeat until one person is left standing. It takes about two minutes with 100 people and needs one coin. Play three rounds and give the winners first pick of the dessert table.

4. Rock paper scissors tournament

Everyone pairs up and plays one round. Losers become the winner’s cheering section and follow them to the next match. By the final, two players have half the room each behind them, chanting their names. It’s loud and fast, and it’s done in five minutes.

5. Stand up if you’ve ever

The host reads statements: “Stand up if you’ve ever put up decorations before Thanksgiving.” “Stand up if you’ve ever re-gifted something.” People stand, look around, sit down. There’s no winner. It’s a warm-up that shows the room what it has in common, and it works with 300 people as well as 30.

6. Walk to your side

Read a This or That question and point to each side of the room: “Real tree over here, artificial over there.” Everyone walks to their pick. Ask someone from the smaller side to defend their choice in one sentence. It gets people out of their seats without any skill involved.

Team games for tables

When people are seated at round tables, make each table a team. You skip the awkward team-picking, and every table has a reason to talk.

7. Christmas survey game (free printable)

It plays like the TV game show Family Feud. Two teams face off on questions like “Name something people buy only around Christmas,” and try to guess the most common answers on the board. Our points are our editors’ best guess at the most common answers, not a real poll. The printable has a host board with every answer, or you can run it on a big screen with Play mode and reveal answers one at a time.

With more than two tables, run it as a bracket: tables play each other in pairs, and winners move on. Or let each table write its answers on paper, and score every table at once.

8. Table trivia

Give each table one answer sheet and a pen. The host reads questions from a microphone, or shows them on a screen, and tables write their answers. Collect the sheets after each round of 10 and score them while people refill drinks. Our free printable quiz has 30 multiple-choice questions on songs, history, food and Christmas around the world.

Thirty questions in three rounds runs about 30 to 40 minutes. For extra rounds, pull from our Christmas trivia questions and answers.

9. Name that Christmas song

Play the first few seconds of a Christmas song over the speakers. Each table writes down the title and artist. Twenty songs take about 15 minutes. Mix 1950s standards with recent pop so every age at the table has something to contribute.

10. Gingerbread build-off

Each table gets a kit or a pile of graham crackers, a tub of frosting and bowls of candy. Give them 25 minutes. Judge on height, style and “most likely to collapse.” It needs one supply kit per table and a lot of napkins.

11. Christmas carol hum-off

One player from each table comes up, gets a card with a carol on it and hums it into the microphone. First table to shout the right title gets the point. Rotate who comes up so the same brave person isn’t humming all night.

12. Guess the wrapped gift

Wrap 10 everyday objects in odd boxes and number them. Pass them from table to table; each table can shake and feel them for 30 seconds and writes a guess. Most correct guesses wins. Use things with a distinct rattle, like a box of pasta or a roll of tape.

Games with volunteers on stage

A few games work best when four or five people compete up front and everyone else cheers. Keep each round to a minute, and move quickly between them.

13. Candy cane hook

Players hold a candy cane in their mouth and try to hook other candy canes off a table without using their hands. Most hooked in 60 seconds wins. Give each player a fresh cane for their mouth and leave the ones on the table in their wrappers, so nothing gets sticky.

14. Ornament stack

Each player gets a pile of shatterproof ornaments and one minute to stack as many as possible in a tower without it falling over. It’s harder than it looks, and a wobbly tower is fun to watch from the back of the room.

15. Wrap it fast

Pairs of volunteers stand side by side and each puts one hand behind their back. Together, using their one free hand each, they wrap a box. Best-looking package in two minutes wins, judged by crowd applause.

16. Ugly sweater walk

If it’s an ugly sweater party, run a quick catwalk down the middle of the room with music. The crowd votes by applause, or by dropping a token in a jar for each contestant. Limit it to 10 finalists or it drags.

Gift games for a big crowd

A classic white elephant with 60 people can take two hours. These versions move faster.

17. Left-right gift pass in circles

Split the room into circles of 10 to 20, each person holding a wrapped gift. The host reads a story out loud, and every time the story says LEFT or RIGHT, gifts get passed that way. Everyone keeps what they’re holding at the end. It takes under 10 minutes no matter how many circles you have. Our printable story is on the Christmas party games for adults page.

18. Table white elephant

Run a separate white elephant at each table of 8 to 10 instead of one giant one. Everyone brings a gift in the same price range. Steals only happen within the table. The whole room finishes in about 20 minutes.

19. Numbered prize draw

Give each guest a numbered ticket at the door, and have the host draw numbers between games. Winners pick a wrapped prize from a table. It’s not really a game, but it keeps people in the room until the end.

20. Guess the jar

Fill a big clear jar with wrapped candy and count it first. Leave slips and a box by the jar. Everyone writes a guess and their name. Announce the closest guess at the end. It needs no host at all.

How to run games for a big crowd

Games that work beautifully with 10 people fall apart with 80, and it’s almost always for one of four reasons. Plan for each one.

• People can’t hear. Use a microphone for anything above 30 people. If you don’t have one, a portable speaker with a phone mic app is cheap and works.
• People can’t see. Put bingo calls, trivia questions and survey answers on a TV or projector. The Game Maker’s Play mode runs from a phone or laptop.
• Rules take too long. Explain every game in under 30 seconds, and demonstrate instead of describing.
• Too much waiting. Choose games where the whole room plays at once, and keep stage games to one minute per round.

Say you’re hosting 80 people for a three-hour holiday party with dinner. A lineup that works:

When	Game	Time
Arrival	Find the guest and guess the jar	20-30 min
During dinner	Table trivia, two rounds	25 min
After dinner	Heads or tails, then two stage games	15 min
Main event	Christmas bingo or the survey game	20-30 min
Last	Left-right gift pass in circles, then the jar winner	15 min

How many copies to print

For anything handed to each guest (find-the-guest cards, bingo cards), print one per person plus about 10 percent. For trivia, print one answer sheet per table plus a couple of extras. Bingo prints one or two cards per page. Two per page halves the paper for a crowd of 100; one per page gives bigger squares for people playing on their laps.

For crowds with lots of kids, swap in games from our Christmas party games for kids. Every printable we make for the season, in one place, is on our Christmas games page.

Questions hosts ask

By the Party Game Book editors. Every game here is free to print for personal, classroom and non-commercial use. How we make and check our games.